ARTICLES ABOUT HILTON VILLAGE BY DATE - PAGE 4

NEWPORT NEWS — Developers will soon ask Newport News to rezone about 110 acres of the Camp Morrison property, which if successful would clear the way for construction of about 630 single-family homes, duplexes, townhomes and four-unit "quadplexes. " Camp Morrison, near Hilton Village behind the Food Lion on Warwick Boulevard, is currently a lightly-used warehouse district. Developer Drucker & Falk Real Estate is preparing a rezoning application that would be submitted to the city by summer, said Emil Goduti, of Drucker & Falk.

NEWPORT NEWS — Ringo, a three-month-old black lab, couldn't stop lovingly licking Dawn Amor, a veterinarian who is caring for the severely burned and cut puppy. Ringo's right side displays large bare batches and blisters, while his left side is scarred with cut marks. Amor said she believes it was a pattern of intentional cutting. Ringo was also probably burnt with household chemicals or hot cooking oil poured onto him, she said. Newport News officials say they are noticing a disturbing pattern of dog abuse in the Hilton Village/Rivermont area, with two dogs abused in a similar manner.

By Mark St. John Erickson, merickson@dailypress.com | 247-4783 | January 12, 2011

Most people on the Peninsula know that Hilton Village is someplace special. So distinctive is the architectural character of the old neighborhood that — when asked where they live — most residents skip past the city of Newport News in favor of saying "Hilton. " But when two nationally known experts and a preservation magazine start singing Hilton's praises, too, even people from out of town start to listen And that's just the kind of treatment the pioneering housing project is getting in the February-March issue of Old-House Journal.

NEWPORT NEWS — Vern Poe said the homeless found their way to the temporary homeless shelter in Hilton Village, despite the snowstorm and cold weather. "They made it here. I saw quite a few that walked in or just got a taxi," said Poe, wearing a red plaid hooded sweatshirt and fatigues while standing outside Hilton Presbyterian Church. During Sunday and Monday's snowstorm, transportation was difficult. A van that picks up the homeless for the shelter program couldn't get out and HRT buses didn't operate.

NEWPORT NEWS — The beige 1920s era home in Hilton Village is non-descript, certainly not a spiraling Gothic house of the sort usually depicted as a haunted house in a movie. But the home's owners claim it's haunted. Elizabeth and Scott Costanzo said an evil ghost attached to an 18 t h century brass bed clawed and strangled them. "I was sitting on that couch right over there and I saw the head floating in the air," said Scott, pointing to an area above the dining room table where he saw the apparition.

NEWPORT NEWS — The city is recommending changes to the Main Street corridor to allow neighborhood commercial instead of only permitting office uses along Main Street, between Warwick Boulevard and Jefferson Avenue. All properties would still have to go through a rezoning before retailers could set up shop. The land-use proposal will go before the City Council in September or October. The land in question includes the part of Main Street where a party store used to be, but hasn't operated for several years.

• On the regional news page, under the Isle of Wight headline section, not one story is from Isle of Wight. What's the point? You have sections for the areas headlined yet you don't use them! Editor: We do sometimes use Isle of Wight as a catchall for any news that's about a locality south of the James River. Also, sometimes news that affects more than one locality rotates through those listings, and the newest stuff pops to the top. But if you click on the header, it will take you to a whole page of other news items, many of which are Isle of Wight.

Newport News is a maritime city steeped in history, dating back to the early 1600s, when it was first settled. Legend has it that it was named after explorer Capt. Christopher Newport, who sometime about 1610 sailed on the James River to return to the Jamestown colony with food supplied from England. Newport News incorporated in 1896, becoming a separate city from Warwick County. In 1958, the two merged, becoming modern-day Newport News, which is 22 miles long and 4 miles wide.

Aparna and Gautam Shah moved into their home in the Hilton area of Newport News eight years ago. At first, they spent all their time making changes inside. Two years ago, they started making improvements outdoors and they haven't stopped since. They've created beds that now encompass more than 500 plants along their residential corner at Post Street and River Road. Chunks of concrete are recycled into an attractive retaining wall that showcases their multi-level design. Dreams for a garden of their own started with a honeymoon in Paris, when they visited a park lush with varied plants and tall shade trees.